A Very Yellow Christmas
by AnnaOtaku
Summary: Ernie, Hannah, Susan, and Justin have all of Hufflepuff to themselves over Christmas break, and when badgers are left on their own, chaos, romance, and FLUFF ensues. HA/EM. JFF/SB. Oneshot.


**Okay, so technically this is AU, cuz the Puff Quartet didn't stay over break in third year. But I wanted them to have the common room to themselves, so this seemed like the best timing. So…pretend!!!**

**HA/EM, JFF/SB. I personally LOVE Hannah/Ernie as like a cute BFF, school-crush romance, but Neville/Hannah for a real, serious, marital relationship. Kind of like my love of Rhr and HHr.**

"Ernie! Ernie! Wake up! Wake up! It's CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!" Ernie groaned, shoving his head further into his pillow. Why, in the name of Merlin's shiny, white beard, was he friends with Hannah Abbott? And more importantly, why was Hannah Abbott a morning person?

"ERNIE!" He felt a large shudder as Hannah shook his bed. "Ernie…" She whispered, a dangerous tone in her voice. The Hufflepuff boy knew he should be scared, but was too tired to care.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!" She shouted, jumping onto his bed, laughing. Ernie groaned louder, burying his face under the covers, turning away from his best friend.

"Shaddup, Hannah…" He murmured, clenching his eyes shut. She just laughed in response, scooting closer.

"Come on, Ern, Suzie and Justin already went to breakfast. We don't want to miss out on Finch-Fletchly doing something stupid, do we now?" Ernie just grunted.

"Fine, then. No more Mrs. Nice Hannah," The girl said, frowning mischievously. Ernie gulped, expecting the worst.

"You wouldn't dare…" He whispered, throat suddenly dry, eyes wide.

"Oh, I would…" She whispered, narrowing her eyes. "TICKLE FIGHT!" Hannah threw the blankets up, lunging at her still-half-asleep best friend. He squealed, covering his head with his hands. Her fingers danced along his bare ribs, causing the freckled boy to squirm.

"Hannah! Ha-no! Ha-ha-please-ha! I'm-ha begging you-ha-ha!" He writhed under her grip, backing farther and farther away. "ARGH!"

Hannah laughed hysterically as he fell backwards onto the floor, caught in a tangle of blankets. While she was struggling to breath, Ernie made a break for the door, forgetting he was dressed only in pajama bottoms. He sprinted up the stairs, followed by Hannah. He dashed through the empty common room, out the secret doorway hidden by the tapestry of drunk monks, and through the hallway.

As Ernie reached the Great Hall, the few students who had stayed behind just stared at him as he stood there, panting, half-naked. Professor McGonagall looked rather annoyed and Dumbledore looked close to laughter. Hannah arrived, panting and shaking with laughter.

"Come on, Squirmy. Let's eat some breakfast." She took off her dressing gown, revealing her black and yellow pajama pants and black tank top. Ernie took the dressing gown willingly, even if it was adorned with flowers.

Hannah was the epitome of Hufflepuff, Ernie mused as he observed he spirited sleepwear. Sweet, hardworking, and ridiculously loyal, Ms. Abbott wore the house colors with pride and style, played for their Quidditch team(though Justin liked to say it was so she could be closer to Cedric Diggory), and never, ever broke the rules.

Of course, she wasn't as _utterly perfect_ as she appeared. She had an obsession with the Wimbourne Wasps that bordered on creepy, she could get _mean_ when she wanted(and violent; Ernie had scars to prove it), and she never, ever wore her hair in any other fashion but _pigtails._ Stupid, childish pigtails.

"What the hell are you staring at, Ern?" Hannah asked, eyebrow quirked. Ernie shook his head, shrugging.

"Just zoning out." He shoved his mouth full of bacon, eyes on his plate. Susan looked disgusted at his behavior.

"Please, manners, Ernie," She said, taking a dainty sip of her milk. Ernie rolled his eyes, but closed his mouth nonetheless.

"Where's Finch-Fletchly?" Hannah asked, forking some sausage.

Susan laughed. "Trying to flirt with Ginny Weasley. It's not going well." Ernie and Hannah simultaneously turned to watch Justin in a failing attempt to seduce the youngest Weasley.

Hannah shook her head. "That poor, stupid boy. Hasn't he ever seen an angry Ron before?"

Susan shrugged. "He never learns. This is like the time he hit on Pansy Parkinson and got beat to a pulp by Crabbe and Goyle. That boy just doesn't think with his 'upstairs' brain."

Just as she was finishing her sentence a loud screech issued from the Gryffindor table. Justin ran from the Great Hall with bats flying from his nose and slugs issuing from mouth like projectile vomit. Tears formed in Ernie's eyes and Hannah fell to the ground she was laughing so hard. Susan looked on concerned, but highly disapproving, and continued on with her breakfast, reading the Daily Prophet.

"I'll go check on him," Ernie said, wiping the tears from his eyes. Susan just nodded, and Hannah didn't even acknowledge him from her position on the ground. Jogging from the Great Hall, Ernie was glad that the first bathroom he found was spewing bats. Crawling on his hands and knees to avoid the bogey-covered bats flying blindly and smacking into walls before exploding into dust, the curly-haired wizard found his friend upchucking slugs into the toilet in the first stall.

"Who cursed you this time, Justin?" He asked, trying to keep the smile out of his voice. Justin grimaced, spitting out another slug.

"Ginny _and_ Ron. At the same time." He groaned as the last of the bats left his nose, smacking one by one into the wall behind Ernie. He stood up, slapping Justin on the back, causing him to vomit out another slug.

"When will you learn, mate?" Justin shook his head, spitting out a little slime.

"Whenever I finally get a date," he said, wiping his mouth. Ernie walked with him out of the stall and to the sink.

"Why don't you just ask one of the girls?" Justin quirked his eyebrows, turning on the faucet.

"One of what girls?" He asked, scooping some water into his hand. He brought his hand to his lips, pouring the water into his slime-filled mouth. He gargled it a bit, the spit it back out. It was a disgusting, light-green, bogey colour, sliding slowly down the basin into the drain.

"One of our girls? Why not Hannah? You two get along great," Ernie suggested, leaning against the sink.

Justin laughed. "Oh, no. Hannah would wear me down after a day. She's too…"

"Violent?" Ernie interjected. "Annoying? Perfect?"

Justin snorted. "I was going to say energetic. Maybe I'm not the one who should be going after Ms. Abbott, eh, Ernie?"

Ernie's eyes widened, face flushing. "I-I-I-That is irrelevant! Hannah and I-? No, no, no! She's just too…and I'm too…Just, no." Justin laughed, holding up his hands in mock defeat.

"Your argument was riveting, Ern. I'm serious. You guys would be cute." He took another swig of water, swallowing this one.

"Ew, no, gross. Moving on! What about you and Susan? I think she fancies you," Ernie said, face slowly returning to it's normal colour.

It was Justin's turn to blush, but he didn't try to fight the idea like his friend had. "You think?"

Ernie smiled, nodding. "Definitely. And I think each attempt at seducing another girl hurts her a little on the inside. Just…just talk to her. Brighten up her Christmas a bit. You know she's terrified of Sirius Black. Maybe you can be her 'badger in shining armor'."

Justin laughed, and the two Hufflepuffs left, laughing and joking, wondering when the other would finally go after their dream girl.

* * *

The rest of the day went by rather unexcitingly, and Hannah started getting bored. Ernie was asleep by the fireplace, and Susan was reading some Witch Weekly's Top Pick romance novel. Just reading the title (_As Forbidden As Amorentia_) made Hannah gag. She fidgeted in her seat, wishing Eloise had stayed behind for Christmas. But most parents were scared that their precious babies were in danger, and therefore Hannah's most entertaining friend(after Ernie) was gone.

As far as she was concerned, Sirius Black would probably not come after the Hufflepuffs if he managed to get into Hogwarts. Especially not when there were only four of them(killers like him liked to kill in larger numbers, right?)

And apparently her parents agreed, and went on vacation. Without her. While she had been excited to have her friends around for Christmas, she had foreseen this boredom. And Hannah did not like to be bored.

She walked down the stairs to her dorm, and rummaged through her things. She had read all of the books in her possession a million times, and Susan's were gross and boring. She knew no one would play exploding snap with her, or chess, or gobstones.

The blonde girl sighed, slamming her trunk shut. The force of the slam caused her broom to fall from it's place against the wall, and Hannah knew what she was going to do for the rest of the day. Changing out of her skirt and into jeans, she threw on a jacket, hat, gloves, and scarf, and ran from the room, shouting a hasty goodbye as she passed through the common room.

As soon as she was outside, Hannah was in the air, relishing the feeling of wind through her pigtails. She flew higher and higher, enjoying the peacefulness of the solitude of flying.

While she was not the most athletic person, Hannah enjoyed flying, and that was enough to join the Hufflepuff quidditch team. She was a chaser, along with Ernie, and a pretty decent one at that. Of course, if she was in, say, Gryffindor, she wouldn't even be able to make the reserves. But that was alright with her; as long as she got to wear the robes and be a part of the action, she didn't care how good they were.

"Hey! Hannah!" She turned to see Justin fly up next to her, wobbling slightly on Ernie's broom.

"What's up, Finch-Fletchly? I thought you hated flying?" Hannah asked, amused by his attempts to balance.

"I do, but I need to talk to you." He sounded urgent, and Hannah's smile disappeared.

"What's wrong?" She flew closer to him, giving the dark-haired boy all of her attention. Small flakes of snow fell all around them, sticking to their eyelashes.

"It's…it's Susan. I think…I fancy her," He said, blushing slightly. There was a silence, and then Justin was nearly knocked from his broom.

"Oh, Justin! This is wonderful!" Hannah had lunged at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He laughed nervously, gripping to his broom for dear life.

"You-you think so?" He asked, eyes wide. Hannah nodded, smiling widely.

"Of course! When are you going to ask her out?" She did a roll on her broom, giggling. The snow was falling harder now, sticking to the ground below.

"Er, well, that's what I need your help with," He said, lamely.

Hannah laughed, flying her broom in small circles around Justin. "Oh, goodness! We have serious planning to do! Come on, lover-boy, let's get started!"

* * *

"Ernie! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas Eve!" Hannah jumped on Ernie's bed again, laughing almost maniacally.

"Argh, Shaddup, Hannah. Let me sleep, alright?" Surprisingly, Hannah stopped moving, lying very still next to her best friend.

They stayed like that for five minutes until Ernie was scared that Hannah had suddenly died on his bed. He peeked out from under his covers to find Hannah whole and alive, staring at the ceiling, a content smile on her face.

"You actually listened to me? Weird." Ernie turned so he was lying on his side facing her. She mirrored him, a huge grin on her face.

"Yeah. I need your help today, and I decided that making you mad wouldn't convince to concede." Ernie bit back a smile, quirking his eyebrow at her.

"And what devious plan do you have, my dear? Does it involve me getting hurt in any way?" Instead of laughing or grinning evilly, Hannah's eyes just softened, her lips twitching into a small smile.

"No, no bodily injury will be inflicted upon you, love." His heart skipped at her use of the word "love". Did she use it intentionally? Or did it just slip out? Isn't that something she would say to her little brother, Jack? Sure it was. Or to Susan or Eloise? He'd heard her call her friends "love" all the time. But never him. Never until now. Did it mean anything?

Wait. Why was he so obsessed with Hannah's word choice all of the sudden? God dammit, this was all Justin's fault! He planted this stupid "liking Hannah" idea in his head! They were friends! Best friends! That was all.

"Ernie? You 'kay?" Hannah asked, tilting her head. He nodded, smiling at her.

"You know, Hannah, you kind of look really pretty in the mornings. Have I ever told you that?" Ernie wanted to rip his tongue out. What the bloody freaking hell had caused him to say that? Out LOUD? Justin had planted the seeds of insanity in Ernie's head, that's what he did. Damn that boy. Damn him.

She blushed, but smiled. "Oh, really? No, you've never told me before. Do elaborate."

The strange, madness-induced bravery took over again, and Ernie found himself talking. "Well, you're always smiling and laughing, and that kind of gives your face a special glow. And your pigtails are always sort of messed up just right, leaving just a little bit of hair to hang in your face just so-" He leaned in to brush away a stray piece of sunny-blonde hair. "And, I don't know. You're just beautiful, Hannah."

He clenched his fists, waiting for the storm to hit, but it never did. Instead, Hannah leaned in slowly, kissing him on the cheek, them wrapping him in a tight hug.

"You are the sweetest boy I have ever met, Ernie MacMillan. You know that?" She giggled, pulling away. "Now, come on. We need to work on getting Justin and Susan together. I'm thinking snow-covered walk around the lake, followed by a 'picnic' by the fire in the common room."

She stood up, pulling him up with her. She tossed him her flowery dressing gown to wear again over his bare chest. He pulled it on, relishing it's smell--chocolate, grass, and shampoo.

In other words, the smell of Hannah.

* * *

"So, what did you want to talk about, Justin?" Susan asked, brushing a strand of her red-brown out of her eyes. They were walking up the path to the castle, after a wonderful walk around the lake. They had laughed and chatted, watching as the Weasley twins tried to charm a large Christmas bow onto the head of the giant squid. Justin was ridiculously happy to be spending alone time with Susan, but sadly, she still didn't realize this was a "date". After the four friends had decided on a lovely walk before a "picnic", Ernie had faked stomach pains and Hannah had taken him "to the hospital wing". Neither returned for the rest of the evening. While Justin had mentioned he wanted to talk to Suzie about something important, he was too much of a wimp to get around to it.

"Oh, er, well…let's get out of this cold, shall we?" He rushed forward to open the door for her, and she seemed to forget about the talk until they reached the common room, ready to have their "picnic".

Hannah had gone to the extremes in setting it up. There were red and green candles everywhere, with an elaborate two-person feast spread out on the ground on a gold tablecloth. Two lovely gold cushions were seated on either side of the spread, and enchanted mistletoe floated about everywhere.

Susan let out a small gasp, smiling. Justin helped her out of her jacket and scarf, then sat her down at one of the cushions. They ate the delicious meal of roast chicken and seasoned potatoes, with special surprise Christmas pudding for dessert.

"Justin?" Susan asked as the boy had a goblet of butterbeer halfway to his lips.

"Yeah?"

She took a deep breath, then asked. "Is this a date?"

From down the stairs to the boy's dormitories, a very audible "Crap!" could be heard, followed by a "Shut up, Hannah!"

She let out a delicate laugh, tinkling like little glass bells. "I'll take that as a 'yes'?"

He nodded, and she smiled kindly. "Er, yeah. It is. I…I've fancied you for a while, Suzie. Just ask Ernie. And I was wondering if…maybe…if you wanted…to be…my…"

Susan blushed, but leaned over and pecked him on the lips, slowly and gently. "Yes."

He smiled, then crushed his lips to hers, pulling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, falling on top of him. They laughed, content to lie there in front of the fire, together.

Two sets of wolf-whistles could be heard from the boys dormitory, and a very loud applause. Justin twirled a piece of Susan's hair between his fingers, pecking her on the nose. She rubbed circles on his arm, staring sleepily into the fire.

* * *

Ernie woke up alone.

Strange, the last thing he remembered was talking with Hannah, speculating what base Jusan(Hannah's couple-name for them) had made it to. He could have sworn she had drifted off with him.

He stretched, then ran to Hannah's room, adorned in her flowery dressing gown and carrying his gift for her. On his way into the common room he found Jusan(hey, it was catching on) asleep on the couch together. Sadly for his bet with Hannah, their clothes were still intact.

He raced down the stairs to the girls dorm, thankful that Helga Hufflepuff had been the only founder to trust her male students enough to allow them into the girl's dorms. Ernie ran into Hannah's room, shouting, "Merry Christmas!'

The sight that met him was a strange one. Pieces of paper and picture fragments littered the ground around Hannah's bed, and a messily wrapped package sat on the edge of her bed. Most of the covers had been kicked off the bed in the middle of the night, revealing Hannah in Christmas-colored pajamas. She looked peaceful, calm as she slept, and…it couldn't be.

She wasn't wearing pigtails.

Her hair was spread across her pillow, shining like sunshine in the dim lamplight. It made her look older, prettier…

But those speculations would have to wait. It was Christmas, for Merlin's sake!

"Hannah! Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!" He jumped onto her bed, shaking the girl awake. She groaned, rubbing her eyes. Ernie laid his head next to hers, grinning from ear to ear.

"Morning, love," he whispered, kissing her temple. If he was going to be confused about their relationship and blur all boundaries they might have had, he might as well do it properly. She smiled, stretching.

"Morning, Mr. Chipper-pants. Oh!" She bolted up, suddenly remembering something. "Your present! Open it! Open it!" She grabbed the package from the edge of her bed, thrusting it into his hands.

"Alright, alright. Now there's the Hannah I know…" He ripped off the paper, and stared at the present within. It was a large, black leather book with yellow letters stamped on it reading, "Badgers and Broomsticks". He turned the page to find elaborately decorated pages of pictures of him, Hannah, Justin, and Susan, occasionally featuring Eloise and Zachariah. Cedric even made an appearance once, in a Quidditch team photo. There were clever captions and memorable quotes hand-written underneath each photo, in different colors of ink, all charmed to do different effects, from changing colors to dashing across the page rapidly.

"Aw, Hannah, this is great-" Ernie stopped in his tracks, entranced by the last photo. It was of him and her, recently taken by Susan. It was simple, the two of them studying by the fireplace in the common room. But the way the fire light reflected off her hair, the way his photo-self stared at photo-Hannah, everything seemed to change.

"This is amazing, Hannah. Really. Thank you." He hugged her tightly, then shoved his gift into her hand. "Here. Open yours!"

She tore at the paper excitedly, gasping when she saw it's insides. It was a small, black velvet box, and inside that was a necklace. A locket, to be precise.

"Oh, Ernie, this is-"

"Wait." He took it from her and opened it, showing her the inside. Where the picture normally would have gone was a small video that kept playing over and over again. First Justin and Eloise were smiling, laughing, then Eloise pulled in Susan, pushing her next to Justin, who slung his arm over the thin girl's shoulder. They kept waving and goofing off. Then, Eloise disappeared, and Ernie was suddenly on camera, rather reluctantly. Jusan(still pretty catchy) pushed him forward, and he waved at the camera, laughing. Then it started over, back to Eloise and Justin.

"Oh…Ernie…" Hannah breathed. The loud-mouthed, freckled boy of fourteen bit his lip, waiting for some sort of violent reaction, and this time it came, but not in the way he expected.

Hannah lunged herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. They fell off the bed in a flurry of bodies and blankets, laughing on the floor. Hannah still held him tight, even from her position on top of him.

"Thank you, Ernie. I love it." She whispered, kissing him on the cheek. In another moment of bold recklessness, Ernie turned his head so her lips were suddenly on his, tangling his hands in her for-once down hair. She(unsurprisingly) laughed into his lips, then deepened the kiss, running one of her hands through his curly hair, the other gripping the back of his neck.

They broke apart, sitting up panting and laughing. A moment passed, then Hannah attacked Ernie again, pressing him against the side of her bed, lips moving against his furiously. His arms wrapped around her waist, letting Hannah take control. That is how their relationship had always worked, was it not?

* * *

Ten minutes later and a very happy Hernie(Hannah's couple name for them; Ernie hoped it wouldn't catch on) made it's way up to the common room to find a very awake Susan, dressed and primped, trying to wake Justin. After a mad dash to their dorm by Jernie(Hannah had even started naming "bromances"; she had to be stopped), the Hufflepuff quartet made their way to the Great Hall.

Hannah had made everyone wear festive colours, herself in a cheesy Christmas sweater that lit up and sang with holly in her hair(down, just for Ernie). The others were much less festive, but all in different shades of red and green.

When looking back on it, Hannah would describe that special Christmas, not reds and greens, but in various shades of her house's colors. For those four young Hufflepuffs, that Christmas would always be remembered as a very yellow Christmas.

**Please review!**


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